Woman, 2 children found dead on Chiba coast in apparent murder-suicide

A 38-year-old woman and two of her children were found dead on the shore along the Tojo coast at Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, on Monday, in what police believe was a murder-suicide. Another of the woman’s children was found nearby, with stab wounds but survived, police said.

A passerby called police at around 11:30 a.m. to report that a woman had stabbed her three children and that they were lying on the sand, Sankei Shimbun reported.

Police have identified the woman as Chie Ito. She was found on the sand beside her 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. All three had stab wounds. A bloodied knife was found near the bodies, police said.

Ito's 4-year-old son was found nearby. He also had stab wounds but was alive. Police said he remains in a stable condition in hospital.

July 5, 2016
10:53 am JST

Idiotic posts on here. Before anyone has any firm knowledge of exactly what drove this woman to murder her children and commit suicide. What if the partner had been abusing all of them and drove her to this? What if they were homeless with no way out? What if she was beyond despair and did not want to leave her children? What if the initial reports are wrong and the partner did this.?!

You have to realise that in this country there is not much proactive help for abused wives and homeless families. I pray for the dead children but how about waiting to see what caused this.

July 5, 2016
11:47 am JST

July 5, 2016
12:10 pm JST

@ Wc626
Based on your logic you could read the stressed out but now deceased mothers mind. All you can do is speculate as always you never know unless you really knew what made this women go this far to take her life along with her children. You can guess and say what you want to say but you don't know what drove her to this point. I am not saying I agree with what she had done but hey you don't know you are only reading the writing here so you call her stupid and makes such a baseless statement. Women in Japan have a hard time we all know that so let's just start there.

The logic of these women is so stupid. (I'm the mother. I'm the only one who can truly care for my children. If I commit suicide, others will be burdened to care for them). Poor kids.

July 5, 2016
12:54 pm JST

You have to wonder what pushes people to these kinds of extremes. Killing yourself and your kids is not a genetic disorder. It's a societal disorder. Is it money, class, husband, education, children, what? You have to feel sorry for the surviving child. Hopefully, he is young enough to forget it as he gets older, but I'm sure there will always be the scars to remind him.

July 5, 2016
01:07 pm JST

July 5, 2016
01:56 pm JST

It's a societal disorder.

The overall murder rate, of both adults and children, among the very lowest, so "societal disorder" seems wildly inappropriate. Disorder is elsewhere. The uniquely Japanese (?) phenomenon of "murder-suicide" may be the obverse of the greater degree of love lavished upon Japanese children (noted by many Edo period visitors to Japan, and myself but strangely not here.) When you are that invested in your children and things don't turn out, you may have a greater tendency to take them with you.